| ← → | Rotate the ship. |
| Thrust | Accelerate in the direction you are facing. |
| Fire | Shoot the asteroid in front of you. |
Asteroid Dodge drops your ship into a field of tumbling rocks. Rotate to aim, thrust to move, and shoot the asteroids before they hit you. The twist that has kept this design alive since 1979 is momentum: there is no friction in space, so thrusting does not move you, it changes where you are already heading.
That single physical detail makes the game far deeper than it looks. Beginners thrust constantly and end up rocketing across the screen with no control. Experienced players use short, deliberate bursts and spend most of the time drifting, letting the ship coast while they line up shots.
Use short taps of thrust, never a held burn. Because nothing slows you down, a long thrust leaves you flying across the screen with no way to stop except thrusting back the other way. Small nudges keep you in control.
Shoot the large asteroids from a distance. They break into smaller, faster pieces when hit, so destroying one at close range surrounds you with fragments moving in every direction. Give yourself room before you fire.
Keep drifting rather than parking. A stationary ship is an easy target for a rock you did not see, while a slow drift keeps changing your position and buys you time to react.
Clear the screen from the outside in. Working on rocks near the edges keeps the middle open as an escape route, whereas destroying central asteroids first leaves you boxed in by the ones circling around you.
There is no friction in space. Thrust changes your momentum rather than moving you directly, so you keep drifting until you thrust the other way.
It splits into smaller, faster pieces, so clearing one rock can create several new threats.
Destroy every asteroid on screen and the next, busier wave begins.
Yes, with on-screen controls for rotation, thrust and fire.
Nothing at all. The whole of Asteroid Dodge is built into the page itself, which is why there is no loading bar and no waiting before you can play.